Egypt’s Min. of Tourism & Antiquities to announce new archaeological discovery in Saqqara soon

CAIRO – 29 May 2022: In the next few days, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities will announce a new archaeological discovery in the Saqqara antiquities area.

It is a well containing many pottery pots and coffins, and it is in a very good condition. The well was discovered by the Egyptian archaeological mission.

In the following lines, ET reviews the latest archaeological discoveries in the Saqqara archaeological area.

On March 19, 2022, the excavations of the Egyptian archaeological mission working in the area northwest of the pyramid of King Merenre in Saqqara, resulted in the discovery of five inscribed tombs from the Old Kingdom and the First Transition period, containing many burials and archaeological finds.

Enani in one of the tombs discovered in Egypt’s Saqqara in March, 2022 - Min. of Tourism & Antiquities

General Secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri explained that the first discovered tomb belongs to a person who is believed to be a high-ranking statesman. It consists of a well that leads to a burial chamber whose walls are carved with scenes of many funerary rituals, including offering tables, the facade of the palace, and the seven oil pots. The well houses a huge sarcophagus of limestone, and carved pieces belonging to the owner of the tomb, which the mission is now working on assembling.

As for the second tomb, it most likely belongs to the wife of a person called "Yart", because of its proximity to his tomb. It consists of a rectangular well. 

The third cemetery belongs to a person who held several positions, including the supervisor of the great house, the chanted priest, and the house purifier, while the fourth tomb is a rectangular well located at a depth of about 6 meters below the surface of the ground and it belongs to a woman, who bore the titles of decorator of the kings and queens, and priestess of the goddess Hathor.

Enani & Waziri in one of the tombs discovered in Egypt’s Saqqara in March, 2022 - Min. of Tourism & Antiquities

Furthermore, the fifth cemetery consists of a rectangular well located at a depth of about 7 meters and belongs to a male who bore the titles of the supervisor of the royal palace, the only prince, the hereditary prince and the mayor, the supervisor of the Great House, the bearer of the seals of Lower Egypt, and the supervisor of the orchard.

It is worth noting that the Egyptian archaeological mission had announced over the past years a number of important archaeological discoveries in the Saqqara archaeological area, including the discovery of hundreds of colorful human coffins containing mummies in a good state of preservation for senior statesmen and priests of the 26th Dynasty, which came among the top 10 archaeological discoveries in the world for the year 2020.

This is in addition to the discovery of the tombs of the purified priest “Wahti” and the supervisor of the royal palace and a number of cat tombs, all dating back to the Fifth Dynasty.